When we left off, Laura had just teamed up with Inanna. Now she’s going headfirst into battle: appearing as a speaker at a con. It’s the Fantheon, it’s got 100,000 people, and no, Laura does not want a flyer. Laura’s mopey and cynical and on edge throughout this entire issue. She’s two seconds away from fighting anyone who looks like they might be thinking unkind thoughts about Luci. The grief is very realistic, and meanwhile, so are the fans’ reactions. Lucifer’s been gone for about three months, and fans are eager to wring out the details and get close to the girl who got close to Lucifer.
Laura’s infiltrating the fandom because Inanna believes the shooters on the rooftop that fateful night were actually fans. There’s not much investigating done- though Laura does get Cassandra on her investigative team- but there is some action, courtesy of Woden. It’s cruel, but that’s Woden. We also get a bit of Baphomet and the Morrigan; they’re kind of my favorites, so I’m pleased. There’s also a new god soon to be on the scene: Dionysus is emerging from… wherever he’s been hiding. We’ll likely meet him in the next issue. Apparently he’s been underground and unseen up until now, and he’s hosting a coming out party of sorts.
I appreciate the commitment to portraying heavy emotions such as grief in a realistic manner; Gillen balances action with real, hard emotions and issues like depression, and he does it well in #7. Laura hasn’t come close to finding the fans who shot at Luci and started this entire arc; she got a bit sidetracked in this issue, and readers got a bit more of the “behind the scenes” moments with the gods. It’s interesting seeing them interact, now that we’ve already seen them put on performances for cameras and fans alike. Laura’s not the starry-eyed fangirl she once was; she’s totally unphased at being offered Jack by Baphomet, and she doesn’t hesitate to yell in Woden’s face. She’s held Luci’s headless body, so naturally now the gods’ issues affect her differently. Laura’s development is handled well, and I enjoy seeing how far we’ve come. I love that she’s a human in the gods’ inner circle, but I am curious about the fire thing. Does she have powers or was that a leftover bit of Luci’s own? I doubt Laura will give up on finding out more, so I look forward to seeing how that plays out. We’re still being introduced to new gods, and I’m eager to meet them all.
Score: 3/5
Writer: Kieron Gillen Artist: Jamie McKelvie Publisher: Image Comics Price: $3.50 Release Date: 1/21/15 Format: Ongoing; Print/Digital